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In response to last week’s Siena poll, Republicans have suggested that there are other Democratic incumbent seats that are up for grabs that were not polled. Top among them, according to Republicans, are Sens. Bill Stachowski and Suzi Oppenheimer.

Both Stachowski and Oppenheimer come from Democratic-heavy districts. (more on Feld’s race in a separate post).

In Stachowski’s district (SD-58), Democrats have more than a 2-to-1 voter enrollment advantage over Republicans: 109,577 Democrats, 45,281 Republicans, 33,421 blanks.

The New York Post reported that “political operatives” are suggesting that internal polls in the 58th district show that Stachowski has “lost ground” to Republican challenger, Dennis Delano. Note: according to election law, campaigns are not allowed to talk about or release polls unless they make the poll questions and results available to the public. So far, those numbers have not been released so it lurks in the realm of speculation at this point.

Delano is a celebrity of sorts in the district – Delano was a cold-case detective who bucked the system to prove the innocence of wrongly convicted man.

But Republicans will have a tough time overcoming Democrats’ overwhelming enrollment advantage in the district, especially in a presidential election year.

In addition, the district has a significant Polish community, which also favors Stachowski.

This take from Evan Stavisky, who is advising Stachowski’s campaign: “Sen. Stachowski is a Democrat running in a Democratic district, in what’s looking to be a great year for the Democratic party. With strong roots in his district and the fact that he’s in line to be the Senate Finance Committee chair, the highest ranking senator from upstate New York, we are confident that he’ll be elected comfortably. The Republicans are simply trying to divert attention away from last week’s Siena Poll that found that if the election were held tomorrow, they lose their majority.”

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